No BCD diving...

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have not done much minimalist diving at all. I'm sure an 'expert' will be along shortly. However, I've done several no-BC dives to 30' or so in a 7mm wetsuit and it seems to just being a matter of choosing your weight for your depth range. I'm sure deeper diving would be significantly different. Where I dive there's starfish everywhere, so you can just pick them up and put them down to change your weighting as necessary. I'm kidding about that last bit.

Dude, you looked pretty proficient to me.
You had me impressed with how you were holding position and gliding around.

I like no BC diving also because it means I have one less thing to clean when I come home tired.

 

[aquaregia]

Aww, I'd still hate to have someone take bad advice from me.

I think I enjoyed packing slightly more than rinsing, but only barely. It'd be sorta cool to look at more minimal harnesses so I could go on vacation with all my gear in my pocket

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I didn't have it set up last time, but next time I'll show you how to set up a tank with nothing more than a harness kit and two cam bands.
Imagine getting on a tropical charter boat and having the DM ask you for your BCD so he can set it up for you and you hand him a harness kit and some cam bands

 

[aquaregia]

Shame you still need cambands or you could just hand them a spool of line and a knife.

 

[knowone]

There are, some kids, that live in pretty rugged ocean, towns over here that snorkel their tanks out from shore like a torpedo to get crays and abs for dinner.

Without a snorkel.

They leave the gear buried in the sand under some brush until it needs a fill.

I wonder about the warranty terms on those old U.S.DIVERS tinnies.

Everyone should have a copy of LET'S GO DIVING by AQUA-LUNG :goingdown:

 

[mproekt1]

.....

 

[mproekt1]

It wasn't???? How about my post- see #16.
Tank type/material does not matter from a buoyancy shift standpoint (weighting is a differnt matter), an 80cf tank shifts around 4 lbs reguardless of make/model/material or anything else.

Just realized this is your first post, welcome to the board.

My apologies. I Jumped into this discussion way too late and didn't see your comments. You in fact answered all my questions. I was a bit surprised about buoyancy shift of a 5 mm wetsuit (my primary exposure protection). I expected it to be more dramatic. I'll give it a shot next month on my trip to Roatan.

Thank you,

MP

 

[herman]

My apologies. I Jumped into this discussion way too late and didn't see your comments. You in fact answered all my questions. I was a bit surprised about buoyancy shift of a 5 mm wetsuit (my primary exposure protection). I expected it to be more dramatic. I'll give it a shot next month on my trip to Roatan.

Thank you,

MP

Here is how I suggest you try no BC diving with the BC still on. Kit up normally but remove ALL the air from your BC. This is best done for the first time on a shore dive so you can get your weighting dead on before jumping off a boat.

You MUST have your weight dead on, a few too much does not cut it in no BC diving (or this test). This means a very good weight check. With your BC FULLY stripped of air (a little remaining is not good enough) and a full tank, you should be able to float at or just below eye level with a normal breath, exhale fully and you should start to GENTLY AND SLOWLY sink- make sure you are not moving anything, esp your fins. The decent will take a few seconds to start.....wait for it, you have to build up momentum and that takes time. If you start to descend at anything other than a very slow rate you are overweighed. For the first few feet you will likely have to vary your breathing cadence to a looooong deeeeeep exhale followed by a relatively short and shallow inhale, this keeps the momentum up. After you are under the water several feet, you can turn head down and swim down some if you need to. When you start descending your wetsuit will compress and you can resume normal breathing after a 10 ft or so. This assumes you are wearing a wetsuit, with no or very little wetsuit your initial decent should be a tad faster because you don't have wetsuit compression to deal with. Once under the water resist the urge to adjust your buoyancy with you BC. Instead concentrate on using your lungs and varying your breathing cycle to accomplish what you want. Long slow inhales followed by shallow and quick exhales if you want to ascend or long slow exhales if you want to descend. This is a slow graceful process, no dropping like a rock or shooting up. As you use gas, your tank will become more buoyant, around 4 lbs for an 80 cf tank. At first you may find this shift a little difficult to deal with but with experience you pretty much ignore it. As you get your weighting close to perfect, you will actually want to set your weights to be dead neutral for your planned depth at 1/2 tank pressure. This requires a little more control at the beginning of the dive but averages out the buoyancy shifts during the dive. If at any time during the dive you feel you just can't deal with the buoyancy issues, you can always revert back to your BC. Once you get the hang of diving this way, you can ditch the BC if you like. Even when I have a BC on, I dump all the air and dive the same as I do with no BC.

A little more on advanced weighting. For no BC diving, changing weights in 2 lb increments is not acceptable, much less 4 lbs. At an absolute maximum, change your weights by 1 lb at a time (NOT 2x 1 lbs- 1 lb total), less is better. I carry several 8 oz fishing sinkers so I can tweak my weights. Most dive ops only have 2 lbs as their minimum size which makes doing this without carrying a few pounds along difficult if not impossible. In that respect, I am lucky . 4 lbs is dead on perfect for me in warm (no wetsuit) saltwater.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Great post, Herman.

One thing I'd add, is that at the end of the dive, properly weighted for "No BC", and with a 5mm wetsuit you'll likely be a bit "light & floaty" as you get shallow. Anticipate this will happen, and you'll have no problems. If you plan to do a safety stop, hold it deeper (closer to 20') versus shallow (closer to 10').

Best wishes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Great post, Herman.

One thing I'd add, is that at the end of the dive, properly weighted for "No BC", and with a 5mm wetsuit you'll likely be a bit "light & floaty" as you get shallow. Anticipate this will happen, and you'll have no problems. If you plan to do a safety stop, hold it deeper (closer to 20') versus shallow (closer to 10').

Best wishes.

if you anticipate this, why not pick up a rock from the bottom to carry on the ascent?
That was a recommnded procedure, in the day.